Introduction: Although availability of essential medicines is one of the most
important objectives of national medicines' policies, the unavailability of essential medicines remains
a major problem for poor countries.

Objective: The study was carried out to measure availability and duration of
out of stock of essential medicines in Sudan.

Method: The study was carried out using the World Health Organization (WHO)
Operational Package for Assessing and Monitoring Pharmaceutical Situation in Countries format for
data collection.

Results: On the average, availability of selected essential medicines at the
public pharmacy, medicine stores and the private pharmacies was found to be 80.6%, 90.0% and 93.0%, respectively. The
survey found the mean duration of stock out at medicines store was 26.5 days and no records
available about inventory control at the pharmacy level. Among the states, the study found low
availability of medicines at North Kordufan public pharmacies. The study found no statistical significant
difference as far as a Developing country concerning availability of medicines at rural or urban areas (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Generally availability and stock out duration of essential
medicines in the Sudan were acceptable.